Notes Publishing History

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In Class Notes

Huck Finn: Publishing History

  1. Mark Twain and writing/publishing of Huckleberry Finn
    1. 1876 - Adventures of Tom Sawyer - great success
    2. 8-year cycle, Twain begins HFinn but wants to "burn the manuscript"
    3. Twain takes a trip to the Mississippi River and Hannibal and sees the failure of emancipation
    4. Reaction to book: Twain felt it was a defeat
  2. 1990 - Finding the "lost" first-half of the Huckleberry Finn manuscript
    1. Oct. 1990 - 665 HF pages found in L.A. attic
      1. Manuscript was worth $1.5 million - Reported by New York Times
      2. Opened controversial debate
    2. Three "owners"
      1. Granddaughters of James Fraser Gluck (Buffalo)
        • Given to James Gluck as a gift (ownership is "9/10 of the law")
      2. Erie Co. Public Library (NY) "owns" second half of the MS; claims the first half is "an overdue library book"
      3. Mark Twain Foundation: they own all rights to new Mark Twain material
    3. Result of litigation over ownership and rights?
      1. Random House agreed to publish a new edition of Huck Finn and split proceeds with "owners"
      2. "lost" manuscript returned to Buffalo/Erie Co. Library, where MS is now located for study and research
      3. HF MS is one of the first manuscripts ever saved for preservation
        1. most MS thrown away over printing
        2. scholars now have the original hand-written pages, including revisions
(Caron)

Student Notes

    1. HF published in 1884-set in the 1840s (Parker)
    2. Could not be released on Christmas due to a defaced picture of Uncle Silas. Release one month later. (Caron)